Sunday 31 January 2010 - Virgin Boeing 747 G-VLIP diverts in from Manchester

Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747-443 G-VLIP diverted in while operating
flight "VS 076" from Orlando when the runway at Manchester was
closed following an early morning snow shower....
.
.... it later positioned back to Manchester
.
Thomas Cook Airbus A330-243 G-MDBD was operating flight
"TCX 034L" from Calgary to Manchester when it also diverted
.
Continental Boeing 757-224 N14120 operated their service
to Newark - the aircraft is now in "Star Alliance" colours
.
Maldivian Air Taxi/Kenn Borek Air Twin Otter C-GTKB was a
late afternoon arrival from Dubrovnik - after refueling it continued
on its way to Keflavik, Iceland, and onto Calgary, Canada
.
Piper Dakota G-ODAK which had arrived on Saturday evening
departed - it wears a British Airways tail colour scheme

Saturday 30 January 2010 - Austrian Arrows Fokker 70 OE-LFI operates weekly IT flight

Austrian Arrows Fokker 70 OE-LFI operated their
weekly IT flight from Innsbruck
.
Mahan Air Airbus A310-304 F-OJHH operated their service to
Tehran - their flights have now reverted to daylight timings and
a fourth weekly service starts on Wednesday 3 February 2010 -
http://bhxflightguide.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-mahan-air.html
.
Aeronova Fairchild Metro III EC-JCU which had arrived on
Thursday morning remained parked up on the Elmdon apron

Friday 29 January 2010 - CityLine Hungary Antonov 26 HA-TCN departs to East Midlands

CityLine Hungary Antonov 26 HA-TCN which had arrived
on Wednesday morning departed to East Midlands
.
.
.
Sylt Air Citation 1/SP D-IAWU was a visitor to the Elmdon apron

Lufthansa to use new Embraer 190's to BHX!!

Lufthansa (LH) will be using the new Embraer 190's of regional
subsidiary Cityline on their morning service from Frankfurt
to BHX effective from Monday 1 February 2010
.
The E90's will operate flight LH 4900 - arrive 0905 - and
flight LH 4901 - depart 0945 - daily until 27 March 2010
.
Friday 29 January 2010

Thursday 28 January 2010 - Solid Air Citation PH-MYX visits the Elmdon apron

Solid Air Citation VII PH-MYX which had arrived on
Wednesday evening was a lunchtime departure to Brussels

Mahan Air to add fourth weekly flight!!

Mahan Air are to add a fourth weekly flight to their service
to Tehran effective from Wednesday 3 February 2010
.
The additional weekly service will operate on Wednesday's
flight W5 5020 will arrive at 0630 and flight W5 5019 will
depart at 0800 - all services are operated by Airbus A310's
.
A news update from the "BHX Flight Guide"

Wednesday 27 January 2010 - CityLine Hungary Antonov 26 HA-TCN spends day parked up

CityLine Hungary Antonov 26 HA-TCN which had arrived in
the early hours of the morning on a freight charter spent the
day parked up on the Elmdon apron with....
.
.... Bin Air Fairchild Metro III D-CSAL which had arrived on
Monday evening and the other based aircraft
.
.
Recently delivered Ryanair Boeing 737-8AS EI-EKC
operated their afternoon service from Dublin

flybe adds Perpignan for Summer 2010!!

flybe has added another brand new route from Birmingham
to its growing summer schedule, this time to Perpignan
.
Flights will operate on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday effective
for travel from 13 July to 31 August 2010
.
Flights can be booked at - http://www.flybe.com/
.
A news update from the "BHX Flight Guide"

Tuesday 26 January 2010 - Viking Boeing 737 SE-RHX operates weekly flight to Iraq

Viking Airlines Boeing 737-86N SE-RHX positioned in to operate
their weekly flight to Northern Iraq departing via Malmo, Sweden
.
British Airways Boeing 737-436 G-DOCZ operating flight "BA 2902"
from Gatwick was an early morning diversion from Manchester due
landing delays after an earlier emergency landing had blocked one
of their runways. After refuelling it continued onto Manchester

Monday 25 January 2010 - Global Express N774KK brings "The Bold look" to BHX!

Global Express N774KK was an early morning arrival from
Sheboygan County Airport, Wisconsin, in the US. It is operated
by Kohler who market their products as "The Bold Look" which
appears on the tail. After refueling it departed to Abu Dhabi
.

Sunday 24 January 2010 - Challenger N604AF visits the Elmdon apron

Challenger 604 N604AF was a morning arrival from Cologne
parking on the Elmdon apron - it later departed for La Crosse,
Wisconsin, in the USA via Keflavik, Iceland, and Detroit

Saturday 23 January 2010 - easyJet Airbus A320 G-EZTF diverts in from Manchester

easyJet Airbus A320-214 G-EZTF diverted into BHX while operating
flight "EZY 1950" from Geneva due landing delays at Manchester as a
result of a security alert - after refuelling it continued its journey
.
British Airways Airbus A321-231 G-EUXK was an early morning
arrival from Heathrow to operate a charter to Paris CDG
.
Scot Airways Dornier 328-110 G-BWWT positioned in to take
Newcastle United FC home after their FA Cup tie against West
Bromwich Albion - the aircraft is in CityJet colours

Friday 22 January 2010 - Avanti OY-TLP visits the Elmdon apron

Piaggio P-180 Avanti OY-TLP was a visitor to the Elmdon apron
.
Scot Airways Dornier 328-110 G-BZOG was an afternoon arrival
bringing Newcastle United FC to the Midlands for their FA Cup tie
against on West Bromwich Albion on Saturday
.
Atlantic Airlines continue to operate their nightly freight flights from
BHX following the closure of Coventry - BAe ATP's G-BTPH in West
Atlantic colours and SE-MAJ of West Air Europe colours spent the
day parked up on the Elmdon apron

Thursday 21 January 2010 - Pilatus PC-12 PH-DIX visits the Elmdon apron

Pilatus PC-12 PH-DIX was a morning visitor to a foggy Elmdon apron

December 2009 passenger figures

The new International Pier opened in 2009
Birmingham International Airport handled 551,273 passengers
during December 2009 - a fall of 7.9% on the previous year
.
As a result BHX handled 9,109,189 passengers in 2009, a fall
of 5.5% compared with 2008
.
Some 7,025,369 people used scheduled flights in 2009, 77.1%
of the total figure. The top three scheduled destinations were
Dublin, Dubai and Amsterdam
.
Charter traffic accounted for 22.9% of the total figure with
2,083,820 people using these services last year. The top three
charter/IT destinations were Palma, Dalaman and Tenerife
.
Paul Kehoe, CEO of BHX, reviews a survey on the Airport's
future expansion plans and the outlook for 2010 at -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mcyvWwmTTU
.
Paul Kehoe, the Airport’s CEO said, "2009 was a challenging year
for the industry and we’re expecting another difficult year ahead
with consumer confidence still at a low. Nevertheless, there are
some exciting developments planned for 2010 to improve our
passenger experience, which will allow us to come out of the
downturn in a stronger and more competitive position to achieve
the Airport’s vision of doubling its passenger numbers by 2018
.
Mahan Air returned to BHX in July 2009
.
Top 10 scheduled routes from BHX in 2009 -
Dublin, Dubai, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Belfast,
Paris, Malaga, Glasgow, Alicante and Frankfurt
.
Top 10 charter/IT routes from BHX in 2009 -
Palma, Dalaman, Tenerife, Sharm El Sheikh, Arrecife,
Paphos, Heraklion, Larnaca, Bodrum and Las Palmas
.
21 January 2010

Thursday 20 January 2010 - Flairjet Phenom G-SRBN is a morning departure

Flairjet Embraer Phenom 100 G-SRBN which had arrived on
Wednesday evening was a morning departure

Work starts on "One Terminal" project

The Millennium Link building
Work starts in late January 2010 on the "One Terminal" project
that will merge the Airport's two terminals into a single facility
to improve its passenger flows and operational efficiency
.
A new and larger centralised passenger security search area is to
be constructed on the extended upper level of the Millennium Link
building while a new arrivals area will be located on the lower level
so that passengers from both the existing T1 and T2 baggage claim
areas will exit into the same "meeting and greeting" area
.
The various projects - which are planned to be completed in
May 2011 - will also include an improved shopping and catering
offer in both landside and airside areas
.
Paul Kehoe, the Airport's CEO, said, "Our goal for 2010 is to improve
the passenger experience and these projects will create a smoother
journey through the terminal and improve our overall efficiently
.
The upper level in the Millennium Link building will be extended
to accomodate a new centralised passenger security search area
.
Thursday 20 January 2010

Tuesday 19 January 2010 - RAF Hercules C5 ZH885 visits the Elmdon apron

RAF Lockheed C-130J Hercules C5 ZH885 made a brief
visit to the Elmdon apron displaying its patchwork scheme
.
.
Piper PA-46-500TP Meridian N53235 was a morning arrival
spending the day parked on the Elmdon apron

Monday 18 January 2010 - Citation D-CAMS visits the Elmdon apron

Citation V D-CAMS was an afternoon arrival on the Elmdon apron

Sunday 17 January 2010 - West Atlantic BAe ATP G-BTPH parked on the Elmdon apron

West Atlantic BAe ATP G-BTPH was a morning arrival
spending the day parked on the Elmdon apron
.
PIA Boeing 777-340ER AP-BID operated their flight from Islamabad
- the aircraft wears the Gilgit - "The Silk Route" tail colour scheme

Saturday 16 January 2010 - RAF Sea King ZE369 goes for an airtest

RAF Rescue Sea King HAR.3 ZE369 which has been under
repair since it diverted in on Monday 4 January 2010....
.
.... went for an airtest keeping both within the airport boundary
and to the west of Runway 15....
.
.... before returning to park in front of flybe Hangar 1
. Flight Ambulance Learjet 35A D-COKE which had arrived on
Friday evening departed to Nuremberg....
.
.... while Falcon 900B VP-BFH which arrived in the early hours
of the morning spent the day parked on the Elmdon apron
.
Austrian Arrows Fokker 70 OE-LFR operated their
weekly IT flight from Innsbruck